1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electromechanical toys, and more particularly to a gear assembly for an electromechanical toy employing a shuttle lock device for simple yet unique controlling of back and forth movements of a plurality of auxiliary elements as well as driving whole toy actions such as locomotion off a single motor. The invention also relates to a method for driving auxiliary movements and whole toy actions in an electromechanical toy employing a single motor.
2. Background of the Invention
There are many known electromechanical toys which employ gear mechanisms powered by one or more reversible motors for activating and controlling the movements of the toy. Some of the gear mechanisms are employed to propel the toy forward and/or backward and some of the gear mechanisms additionally actuate accessory features of the electromechanical toy. It is well known to employ a gear mechanism to translate alternately the rotational motion from a reversible motor to first and second drivetrains. Driving a reversible motor in a first direction powering a first drivetrain with a first spur gear, and then reversing the motor to a second direction activating a swing mechanism or the like for switching power to a second gear/spur that engages the second drivetrain, is known to drive forward and backward motion and/or movement of accessory features in a toy.
Additionally, employing two or more reversible motors in conjunction with a cam assembly to power and coordinate various body parts linked to the cam assembly is also known as a mechanism for producing animated responses in an electromechanical toy according to a cyclical pattern and corresponding to external stimuli. None of the known mechanisms however, employ a bidirectional motor/cam follower feature facilitated with a shuttle lock mechanism for controlling (noncyclical) back and forth movement of a plurality of auxiliary elements as well as driving whole toy actions such as locomotion off a single motor.
There are several known devices which employ a swing mechanism or the like to alternatively translate rotational motion from the motor to the first drivetrain adapted to drive a wheel and a second drive train adapted to actuate an accessory feature. A gear box for a toy vehicle adapted to alternately transmit power from a motor to a first and a second drive train is exemplified and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,231,426 B2, issued Jul. 31, 2012 for “Gearbox assembly for toy vehicles” to Miller. Miller employs a generally known “swing mechanism” concept with a gearbox for a toy vehicle adapted to alternately drive power between a first drivetrain, to drive a wheel, and a second drivetrain system adapted to actuate an accessory feature.
Additionally, known mechanisms for controlling a movable gear on a transmission shaft of a toy car which shifts between a first transmission gear wheel and a second transmission gear wheel to control forward/backward movement of the toy car, is exemplified and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,058 B1 issued May 14, 2002 for “Forward/backward steering control mechanism for a remote-controlled toy car” to Lu, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,505,527 B2 issued Jan. 14,2003 for “Remote-controlled toy car forward/backward steering control mechanism to Lu. In the Lu U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,058 patent, a forward/backward steering control mechanism is coupled to the power drive to move a gear on the transmission shaft between first and second positions to control the direction of rotation of the transmission shaft to further control forward/backward movement of the toy car. In the Lu U.S. Pat. No. 6,505,527 patent, a gear on a transmission shaft of a toy car is moved between a first transmission gear wheel, coupled to a power drive, and a second transmission gear wheel, coupled to the first transmission gear wheel through idle gears, to control the direction of rotation of the transmission shaft thereby controlling forward/backward movement of the toy car.
The Lu patents improves upon a system employing two separately controlled transmission mechanisms for forward and backward movements, and the Lu B2 patent uses a simple gear clutch structure to control switching between forward mode and backward mode. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,732,602 B2 issued May 11,2004 for “Dual-gearshift forward backward control mechanism for remote control toy car” to Lu discloses a dual-gearshift mechanism to control forward/backward motion and high/low speed gearshift by means of power transmission, through a two-step gearshift control mechanism and a forward backward control mechanism.
Employing a simple gear system with a direction control element for steering a toy vehicle is exemplified and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,586, for “Steering Apparatus” issued Apr. 2, 1996 to Suto. A gear system employs a pair of output gears which are controlled to rotate in the same or opposite direction for steering a toy vehicle. A reversible motor drives a pair of steering gears in opposite directions on the same axis and a direction control element is disposed on the same axis and moved from first to second positions by a cam mechanism driven by the motor. The direction control element engages one steering gear at a time, controlling the rotational direction of the motor such that the vehicle moves ahead or makes a turn.
Additionally, another simple mechanism employed to provide an automatic reversal of toy vehicle movement in the opposite direction is exemplified and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,149,180, issued May 21, 1937 for “Mechanically Propelled Toy with Automatic Reversal in the Opposite Direction” to Muller. A gear mechanism employing a switch spur-gear is slidably keyed to an axle which mounts drive wheels. The switch spur-gear directs a spur wheel to slide along the axle into engagement with one of two toothed wheels to produce a powerful slow running backward travel of the toy vehicle and then switch to rapid forward movement.
Additionally, employing more than one reversible motor in conjunction with a cam assembly to power and coordinate various body parts linked to the cam assembly for producing smile expressions and simulating emotional states is exemplified and disclosed in US Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0270312 A1 issued Nov. 30, 2006 for “Interactive Animated Characters” to Maddocks et al. An animated character having a variety of moving body parts including a smile/emotion assembly are coordinated to exhibit life-like emotional states by controlling and synchronizing their movements in response to external sensors. A drive system utilizes first and second reversible motors in conjunction with a cam operating mechanism linked to various body parts to coordinate cyclical movements which mimic life-like emotions and respond to external sensor coupled to the electromechanical toy.
Another electromechanical toy disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,579,143 B1, issued Jun.17, 2003 for “Twisting and Dancing Figure” to Rehkemper et at. describes a twisting figure that includes a head, body, arms and lower leg sections. A housing formed in the body contains a motor secured between a pair of horizontal plates pivotally secured to the lower leg section. A gear assembly is arranged to reciprocate against a bumper that is secured to the lower leg section causing twisting movements of the figure.
Significantly, known electromechanical toys do not include a gear assembly employing a shuttle lock device for simple yet unique controlling of back and forth movements of a plurality of auxiliary elements as well as driving whole toy actions such as locomotion off a single motor.
It would be desirable to provide a motor driven gear mechanism including a shuttle gear adjacent both an action gear and an auxiliary gear with a cam plate linked to auxiliary elements driven by the auxiliary gear. A shuttle lock is positioned at the shuttle gear maintaining the shuttle gear and auxiliary gear together to rotate both in a forward and reverse direction for rotating the cam plate back and forth for operating the auxiliary elements.
An actuating mechanism is employed to position the shuttle lock to maintain the shuttle gear and auxiliary gear together for operating the auxiliary elements, with the shuttle gear engaging the action gear for movement of the action elements when the actuating mechanism no longer has the shuttle lock positioned at the shuttle gear. Additionally it is also desirable to provide motor driven actuation of the shuttle lock including a shuttle lock cam follower riding along a first follower pathway in the cam plate, with rotation of the motor in a first direction driving the shuttle gear into engagement with the auxiliary gear and actuating the shuttle lock to maintain the shuttle gear and auxiliary gear together for controlling back and forth movement of the auxiliary elements throughout a predetermined rotational range of the cam plate. Rotation of the motor in a second direction releases the shuttle lock as the cam rotates outside the predetermined rotational range driving the shuttle gear into engagement with the action gear for driving action movement such as locomotion of the toy.